Voter ID and the Politics of the Bizarre

In the latest demonstration of the through-the-looking-glass nature of Rhode Island politics, the state's Democratic-dominated House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring voters to present photo identification before casting a ballot.

This is a bill that no Democrat in his right mind would support in the Other 49. It is, as Cynthia Needham notes in her ProJo piece, the sort of legislation that disenfranchises traditionally Democratic constituencies: the poor, the old.

But the vote is not just a commentary on the oddities of one-party rule. It is an exercise in the unnecessary. There is simply no evidence of widespread voter fraud in this country.

The spectre of voter fraud is a political tool. Used by Republicans. Except in Rhode Island.